[4Arianna]

Hello,
I'm a first time poster hoping to hear about the experiences of others who have gone through brain mets. My mother was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer three years ago at age 65, and after undergoing treatment and surgery, appeared to be NED. Then last year she was diagnosed with a single brain met and underwent stereotactic radiosurgery. The lesion became smaller and an MRI three months ago revealed that it was gone, leaving behind necrotic tissue. Unfortunately the MRI also revealed a new single brain met, so it was stereotactic again this time with 16mg of Decadron daily. It's now been six weeks since the radiosurgery and three weeks since she was weaned off Decadron. In the three months since her diagnosis of met #2, she has become debilitated, cannot walk except with a lot of assistance and sleeps all day. She is nauseous, cannot follow a train of thought and cannot even focus her attention enough to make a phone call. She gained 45 pounds on the Decadron and since being weaned off she is losing weight at an alarming rate. To make matters worse, after the diagnosis of met #2, her Medical Onc advised hospice. This was hard to accept since there is no evidence of disease anywhere else in her body and this forum is filled with people who have gone through extensive mets and are still going strong. Here's the kicker - her Neuro Onc and Neurologist have told us it is too early for hospice and that she is still treatable! I am reading a lot of posts from people who have had multiple brain mets and wonder if they experienced such debilitating symptoms as my mother has, and if so how long they lasted and what recovery was like. Was any physical therapy needed? Also, is it unusual for an Onc to suggest hospice for someone with so few mets? She has had a battery of tests and no other mets have been found. Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you!